In Flames -Sounds of A Playground Fading (Upcoming 10th album)

CladInShadows971 said:
All For Me... wow
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Listening to this now. What a strong track. I can't exact describe why, it just hits you like a tank. A big melodic tank. I don't know if that's an effective metaphor for it, but I keep revisiting that song either way.

@A88: I don't know...this album is seriously making me rethink my approach to my own songwriting. The Jester Race got me started, but I think this is really impressive, easily one of my favorites by them. I love every IF album, but even then only a select few of them make me really go "holy shit" and think. SOAPF is proving to be one of 'em.

(Listening to "The Puzzle" now. Wasn't sure at first, but man it's growing on me.)
 
Don't know... If it continued in the vein of intro section...it would probably be the strongest song on SOAPF.

This way it's:

fantastic intro - weird shit happens - collection of boring powerchords

Now that I listen to it, it reminds me of ASOP.
 
A88 said:
Don't know... If it continued in the vein of intro section...it would probably be the strongest song on SOAPF.

This way it's:

fantastic intro - weird shit happens - collection of boring powerchords

Now that I listen to it, it reminds me of ASOP.
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Yeah, I'm pretty much in agreement. I don't like it at all except for the beginning and the end. Everything in the middle is everything I don't like about Nu N'Flamez.
 
I GOT IT!!! IT WAS THE DREADS!!

The heaviness of the dreads was causing migraines, and the bad hygiene that comes along with them was causing dandruff and an uncontrollably itchy scalp. In turn, it caused the the same, whiny styled screams and vocals throughout the tracks. You notice, since he got the dreads it was getting worse and worse. While on R2R he had the long, well kept hair and his vocal performance was stellar.

He cuts them off, and look at this modern vocal performance.

Go ahead, debate my logic. You can't!
 
:OMG:


I bow to your logic.

We'll call it The Relative Dandruff theory!
 
Taotrac said:
I think it's funny how people are saying this sounds like "old" In Flames, just because it has a few acoustic-ish parts.

My review of the album is this: Aside from a few very standout tracks, this album is very thin, shallow, and takes In Flames back a thousand steps in terms of being an outstanding band. The leaked tracks - Deliver Us, Sounds, A New Dawn - each of these tracks spell out classic In Flames that we've come to expect; catchy choruses, layered songwriting, energy, dedication.

But the other tracks? Almost every single one of them falls way too short of these above tracks (which will most likely be the singles). The Puzzle and Darker Times are messy "nu-metal" tracks that hark back more to the songwriting style of Coal Chamber or Korn, without being as catchy - you'd at least expect In Flames to throw a charming chorus in there, or some layered keys, but it just doesn't happen.

Moving on to the two experimental songs, The Attic and Jesper's Door, these tracks are nothing, absolutely nothing, but a few spoken words by Anders (no "surprise energy" like the end of Bedtime Story or Evil In A Closet) and tweaks and toots. Not really even any melody, though the guitars on The Attic are very soothing.

Next, to Dead Ships and Fear Is The Weakness, these two tracks try to emulate the formula and mood that Deliver Us, New Dawn, and Sounds had set up - an energetic verse-chorus with keys and a few guitar experiments. However, the level falls extremely short of "singles", lacking originality and attention. Although many songs on Sense Of Purpose sounded alike, the "less good than the other" was not once a problem on that particular release. Opposite to Sounds, every song on Purpose had it's own merit and energy.

Now, to Ropes and Enter Tragedy - Ropes is a surprising return to a slightly complex Gothenburg style a bit more nodding to Soilwork, with some blazing guitars to be found, and you really ride on this track until the chorus hits - the chorus just, like most of the tracks on this release, is completely uninteresting, no hooks or things to grasp onto. It's almost like Anders gave up on writing a good chorus as so many people bag on his very good talents. (And no, the catchy chorus was not replaced with brutality here - just replaced with a bad chorus.) Enter Tragedy is also a nu-metalish track that drones along and does nothing interesting.

Lastly, Liberation is probably the best song on the album next to the three kings. This song shows the experimentation, layered music, catchy songwriting, and depth that In Flames are capable of, and the only sad thing is that the song is not very long and still does not pack the energy I'd expect.

Overall, the album sucks IMO, and most of the songs drone on and on. While I hold no band to a certain sound, I've said before that I 100% expect good, interesting songwriting, and this release has almost none of that. Experimentation should evoke emotion. Energy should evoke hooks. This album does not do that, nor does it really any more experiments than Sense or Come Clarity, and actually has less - I personally miss the acoustic songs to be honest, like Pessimist, Come Clarity, ect etc and I was really hoping for one!
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I don't agree at all. And Liberation being one of the best tracks?
Well you sure have some totally incoherent opinions of the songs of the album IMO.
 
I haven't really listened to the album enough to go into depth on how I feel about the songs, but if I had to rate based on my overall opinion on them, right now it'd be something like (out of 10):

SOAPF - 7.5
Deliver Us 7
All For Me - 5
The Puzzle - 7
Fear Is The Weakness - 8
Where The Dead Ships Dwell - 6.5
The Attic - 6 (bit of a default rating as I don't really count it as a proper song)
Darker Times - 7.5
Ropes - 7
Enter Tragedy - 8
Jester's Door - 6 (similar to Attic, somewhat of a default due to the fact it's not a proper song)
A New Dawn - 9
Liberation - 10 :D .... only kidding, it's about a 7.5

So yeah, I'm not overly impressed. It's wayyy ahead of ASOP, but they would have had to really fuck up to get below that point. It's also better than STYE. It's around Come Clarity in terms of where I rank it, I don't consider it better than R2R at the moment. That may change in time, but not at the moment.

Decent effort. Overall I'd probably give the album a 7 outta 10.

Edit: I've upgraded The Puzzle to 7, I like the chorus. :D
 
krofius said:
I don't agree at all. And Liberation being one of the best tracks?
Well you sure have some totally incoherent opinions of the songs of the album IMO.
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Actually, while I don't agree with 99% of what Taotrac wrote, I kind of agree about Liberation.

What is the difference between Liberation and The Puzzle?

Elements are the same, but it was done in different way. Liberation is like anti-The Puzzle. Same stuff, one light-one heavy.

Erik Erna said:
Yes! That is some fried gold right now.

Maybe this album should of been called Sensation Of Psoriasis Healing.
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SOPH (2013)

01. Sound of a dreadlock falling
02. Haircut us
03. All that hair
04. The Shampoo
05. Dread is the sickness
06. Where dead dreads dwell (this one is cool - WDDD, I like it)
07. The barbershop
08. Haircut time!
09. Scissors
10. Enter hair stylist
11. Anders' Door
12. A new haircut
13. Liberation :)

"Heartbreaking story about Anders' epic struggle with inner demons and bad haircut..."
Metal Hammer

"OMFG, great album!"
Krofius

"Clayman is better. Much better. Much, much better."
DE4life

"I play with my large cock...rooster"
Plain Vanilla
 
I really enjoy "Liberation". The outro could stand to have been cut down a bit, but overall it's a really nice ballad with a good dose of guitar work and a lot of passion IMO.
 
A88 said:
Actually, while I don't agree with 99% of what Taotrac wrote, I kind of agree about Liberation.

What is the difference between Liberation and The Puzzle?

Elements are the same, but it was done in different way. Liberation is like anti-The Puzzle. Same stuff, one light-one heavy.



SOPH (2013)

01. Sound of a dreadlock falling
02. Haircut us
03. All that hair
04. The Shampoo
05. Dread is the sickness
06. Where dead dreads dwell (this one is cool - WDDD, I like it)
07. The barbershop
08. Haircut time!
09. Scissors
10. Enter hair stylist
11. Anders' Door
12. A new haircut
13. Liberation :)

"Heartbreaking story about Anders' epic struggle with inner demons and bad haircut..."
Metal Hammer

"OMFG, great album!"
Krofius

"I play with my large cock...rooster"
Plain Vanilla
Click to expand...

LOL :D

"OMFG, great album!"
Krofius
Click to expand...

:D
 
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